Photos taken in 2008 & 2004

Shea Stadium falls into my "take it or leave it" category, meaning that it's a decent enough place to see a game, but I was certainly not sad to see it go after the 2008 season. Getting to Shea Stadium was relatively hassle free - traffic is not as bad as around Yankee Stadium and parking is more plentiful. All the parking is in lots surrounding the park and is the same price ($15 in '08). Once inside the park, you'll enter into the dark and dingy concourse area. The variety of concessions here is certainly better than at Yankee Stadium, though almost as expensive. As with most parks, the seating on the field level is fine, but once you get into the loge and upper deck levels, the seats are just too far away from the action. This is especially true of the upper deck which is just too steep. Interestingly, the box seats are real "box" seats here as they are split into groups of 4 by bars. One of my biggest complaints here is the rudeness of the ushers. Almost everywhere you go in the park, they ask for your ticket - even in the upper deck where nobody was sitting. The area behind homeplate is completely screened in and you cannot enter without a ticket. The atmosphere here is more laid back than at Yankee Stadium. The setting at Shea Stadium is boring unless you enjoy seeing and hearing planes frequently fly overhead, though after 2001 they were much less frequent. So did the Mets need a new park ? No, with some renovations (especially to the concourse area), Shea Stadium would have been a better park and could have lasted for many more years. But since the Yankees were getting a new park, the Mets had to as well. Citi Field will surely be an improvement over Shea. Demolition of Shea Stadium started immediately after the '08 season and will be completed prior to the '09 season starting.